


Fantastic Hopes and Where to Find Them

by SaintAnselmOfTheDesert



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Ruby & Sapphire & Emerald | Pokemon Ruby Sapphire Emerald Versions
Genre: AU, Beholderverse, Gen, References to Alola/Sun/Moon, Return Gift
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-16
Updated: 2017-01-16
Packaged: 2018-09-17 21:37:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9347393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaintAnselmOfTheDesert/pseuds/SaintAnselmOfTheDesert
Summary: Not all things in the world are perfect. Not all things in the world will always go your way. But when the sun, moon, stars, and the whole universe fall on your head, you need all the help you can get. Even if it's just getting a call from a friend halfway around the world.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Isis_the_Sphinx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Isis_the_Sphinx/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Go, Gentle Night](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9332651) by [Isis_the_Sphinx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Isis_the_Sphinx/pseuds/Isis_the_Sphinx). 



> Oh, Rhia. I know you had to write that out just because you needed to exorcise a plot bunny or two because of what's happening to me. For that, I'm eternally grateful. But even you know that I won't just leave you hanging this way, even in a fanfic. So. From me, to you.
> 
> Anyway, same warnings apply: massive AU, maybe breaking a few character conventions. Also spoilers for Eyes of the Beholder and Pokemon Hero, but us Beholderverse writers tend to take timelines as blue sky suggestions.

 

_25% abnormal myleoblasts consistent with acute myleoid leukemia._

Ralph Wingates, the Pokemon Champion of Hoenn and Successor of the Draconids, threw the sheaf of papers containing his bone marrow biopsy results against the wall.

Leukemia.

Of all the things he could’ve been sick with, it had to be cancer.

Cancer. One of the great uncured scourges in Sickness’s arsenal. The same sickness that claimed his grandmother and his great-grandmother. The same sickness his own uncle, halfway across the Multiverse, had been fighting before he came here.

How did he go from healthy to cancerous in the space of a couple of weeks!?

It had all started with taking a trip up to Meteor Falls to visit Zinnia and the rest of the Draconids. Normally, the high altitude and the caves were of no trouble, all he needed was a day to adjust to the altitude. But after his four days up in the mountains, he’d found no comfort from the altitude and picked up a rather nasty cough, and he couldn’t wait to get back to lower altitudes. But even that wasn’t enough. His energy levels never recovered, and he’d had to skip out on training with Simurgh and swimming with Triton multiple times. Add the fact he’d been constipated for a good two or three days, it was time to call in the cavalry.

So he went to see some medical professionals in Lilycove City, as he still liked to train and operate out of his Secret Base on Route 120, who proceeded to poke and prod him, giving him some blood pressure tests and an EKG. Results inconclusive. They directed him to the nearby hospital to have some blood tests that would be discussed the following day. They never got that far, as the results came in later that morning and he was immediately bade by call via PokeNav Plus to get his ass to the emergency room, as he’d become seriously anemic.

That was five days ago. Not only was his hemoglobin low, but _everything_ was low. Red blood cells. Platelets. One of his white blood cells. The doctors were worried he’d contracted something serious and convinced him to be admitted to the hospital. He called everyone in the inner circle to let them know: Zinnia, May, Brendan, Professor Birch, even Wally, who was on a boat to the newly re-opened Alola region to take in the sights. Next came the Elite Four. Steven, however, couldn’t be reached, off doing his own thing that he was. He hoped he could find some way of contacting him, even if it meant breaking out the Eon Flute to summon Latios and bid him the messsage that way. Hopefully, everyone could keep it all on the down-low until more info came out.

Then Brienne Lalonde called.

Brienne Lalonde was the newly-crowned Pokemon Champion in Kalos, and as it turned out, she was from his neck of the woods, too. They had become pen-pals thanks to their shared experiences, and apparently Drasna had heard Drake mumble something about the state of his condition. At this point, he knew he was going to be in the hospital for a while, he just didn’t know for how long. He made some kind of generic statement about he was going to fight it (whatever it was), more to himself than his friend.

Well. He knew now.

He’d told Zinnia first. She had the obvious reaction, thinking something had happened involving his fighting Groudon and Kyogre with Mega Rayquaza and blaming herself for it, but Ralph shot that down, as there was no way to know or tell. She promised to come visit whenever she could. 

Brendan probably had the most succinct reaction. “Shit.”

Wally got the call from his hotel room on Melemele Island. He immediately wanted to come back to be with him, but Ralph said he wanted to name him his representative to the new Champion of Alola and Professor Kukui on his behalf, as he wouldn’t be out of the hospital for a while. May said she’d come visit whenever possible, just to give him company during chemotherapy.

Chemotherapy. At 25 years old. What a way to start the year.

Ralph submitted an official notice of absence to the Elite Four next, giving a full explanation of the diagnosis. Hopefully, there would be time after chemo for him to return, but he’d be hard-pressed to defend his title. Chemo from start to finish would last maybe a month. It would be the time recuperating from it that would take the longest and hardest. Worse still, even if he made it through, there was no guarantee he’d be free forever after it was over. He’d continue to be in remission until a cure was found or the cancer was eliminated from his body, rare as that would be.

Of course, he was also bombarded with well-wishes from everyone else after that point. Glacia, Sidney, Winona, Norman, Tate, Liza, Brawly, Wattson, and Flannery sent positive thoughts. Roxanne said she’d send a couple of books. Wallace and Phoebe sent prayers. That probably meant Wallace would send word to Steven, being friends that they were. That was for the best.

Who was left to tell?

...Brienne.

Oh, this was gonna _suck_.

He pulled out his PokeNav Plus and put it in the video call port on his table, and summoned Brienne’s contact info. He looked down at himself, wearing a pair of black sweatpants and a green hospital gown. His hair was locked in bed muss. It was going to be until he lost it some point down the road. He had color back in his face for the moment, but it’d probably go from red to yellow before too long. This was going to be a _long_ fight.

He pressed the button.

The phone rang three times before Brienne’s face appeared on the opposite wall.

“Ralph.” Brienne seemed surprised. And then she grew pensive. “You have news.”

_Does she know already? I did say a lot when we talked last time, but still..._

“Yeah,” Ralph sighed. “The biopsy results came back.”

“Biopsy? Of what?”

“Bone marrow...Brienne, I know I’ve been keeping my cards close to my chest on this one, but I didn’t want to worry you too much and I needed to get my affairs in order first.”

“It’s cancer, isn’t it?”

The outburst caught Ralph off-guard. She knew? Well, she could’ve guessed based on their last conversation, but even that was going out on a limb. Maybe it was a psychic thing. She did like to tell fortunes, based on what he’d heard of her from her friends. Maybe she got some kind of inkling from someone or something.

Silence fell between them. Brienne stared hard at the screen, not wanting to be turned away, but not wanting to be right, either. Already he could tell this was going to break her heart.

“Yes. The results came back with acute myleoblastic leukemia. Basically, I have cancer in my bone marrow.”

Brienne groaned, massaging her eyes briefly. That was pretty much his initial reaction to the diagnosis. Her worst fears had apparently been confirmed. “...are you okay?”

“Well, my bone marrow’s been producing bad blood cells that have been crowding out the good ones and slowly killing me from the inside out. Other than that, just _swell_.”

“Ralph-!”

“Let me get my jokes in, please. I need them right now.”

“You know what I mean!”

_Jesus Christ, she’s taking this hard._ “...honestly, I want to punch whatever cosmic entity thought this was a good idea. Seriously, the word alone hits like a hammer.”

“I bet,” Brienne sighed, hanging her head. “Have you told anyone?”

“Team got told first. Then Zinnia, May, the Birches, Wally. I’ve already given the news to the Elite Four, so it’s going down the grapevine as we speak. I’m trying to keep the info contained to just the members of the Pokemon League, but I’m just waiting for someone to leak the info and watch the chaos ensue as the people grapple with the idea that their Champion has a very aggressive form of cancer and needs to enter chemotherapy ASAP.”

Brienne rubbed at her forehead. “Do they have a timetable?”

“They have a plan. Tomorrow, they’re going to put a catheter in my arm for chemotherapy and give me a lumbar puncture to make sure it’s not in my spinal fluid. Assuming skies are clear, we’re a go for chemo the next day. The whole process will probably take a month from top to bottom. But it’s going to be all-go no-quit right from the start. Doctor basically said it’s going to be hell. Going bald, Nader Phases, searching for bone marrow donors...”

“Bone marrow donors?” Brienne asked.

“It’s not enough to kill off the diseased bone marrow and kill off all my cells to reset everything. If I don’t get a bone marrow transplant, transfusions alone won’t save me, and I’m going to be bedridden forever. I’m assuming they’re going through the lists to see if they can find matches...that’s bound to be just as hard, given no local blood relatives and all. And then there’s recuperation after it’s all said and done...”

“Ralph, can you stop, I can’t...”

Ralph fell silent, watching Brienne trying to maintain her composure. It was the feeling that only could come from watching suffering across a computer screen and not being able to help. It was a feeling he’d had more often than not in the past. Even though he was the one with the disease, Brienne was taking this way harder than he probably had when he first got the news. And that had been accompanied by crying for fifteen minutes into Simurgh’s chest.

“Brienne. Look at me.”

Brienne looked up.

“I know you’re scared. So am I. I am scared out of my goddamn wits right now. In the space of a couple of weeks, I’ve gone from healthy to cancer-ridden. The doctors are optimistic I can get through this, but I’m still trying to find the hope in all of this. I’ve seen what cancer does to people. I watched it take my grandmother. I watched my uncle fight it before I came to this world. Now here I am, 25 years old, faced with the biggest mountain I’ve yet to climb and nothing I have in my arsenal will save me other than just being an utter stubborn bastard.

“But I’m ready for the challenge. I’m invoking my Battlestar Galactica, and I’m saying ‘as of this moment, we are at war.’ I don’t really have a choice in this, it’s either fight or die, and I didn’t get shunted off to a parallel world to get smacked around by a couple of legendaries and almost die then just to die in a hospital bed. You and I both know my fate lies on a different track than this. I want to hope. I want to _believe_ , goddammit!”

“Do you?” Brienne asked.

Ralph’s fist clenched, trying to summon the courage he was desperately lacking by now. “...yes.”

Silence fell once again. Then…

“Seriously? Battlestar Galactica?”

“It was the first thing that jumped into my head. It seemed fitting enough.”

“You are such a nerd.”

“Said the girl who said she was going to decorate her room at the Pokemon League with Homestuck imagery. I’m actually the crazy one between the two of us and even I wouldn’t be crazy enough to put Gundams up in my room at the Elite Four. Drake would kill me! And probably Steven, once he finds out what I’ve done.”

Brienne laughed. “Nice to know you still have your sense of humor after all this.”

“I’ll need it before this month is out, I assure you.”

“You’re going to be okay in there?”

“I’ll probably have a metric ton of visitors, provided they’re not sick. I’m currently neutropenic, so it’s easy for me to get infected with stuff. Even then, I’ve got Simurgh and the rest here with me. I’ll hardly be alone in this.”

“That’s good.”

“You can come visit me if you want. I know I told you no, so you could focus on your title defense, but...”

“No, you’re right. I’d rather not take long boat trips just to visit you in person when I need to focus on things going on here. And besides, that also means I have to bring Looker with me, too, because he’ll insist on trying to help out whenever he can.”

“Of course he would. Tell him I send my best.”

“And I’ll send his back to you.”

Ralph nodded, and then looked over at the door, where a woman was standing outside the door with her own mask on. “Night nurse is here. Probably should let her introduce herself.”

“Okay. You hang in there, Ralph, okay? I’m pulling for you down here.”

“Thanks, Brienne. Ralph, out.”

Brienne waved, and then disappeared from the screen. Ralph took back his PokeNav Plus, and put it back on the nearby table that he used to hold his other stuff. Looking up, he saw Simurgh looking over at him from the other side of the door. He still looked pretty concerned from the revelations. Nonetheless, Ralph motioned the Blaziken over and held out his arm to him, just like he did at the Championship match against Steven.

“Hey. You and me, to the end of the line. Right? Just like we said.”

“Blaze.” Simurgh nodded, and returned the gesture.

This was going to hurt like hell. But Ralph would get through it. 

Because he had the best friends in the world at his back.


End file.
